Amusement machine



Dec. w, 1950 Filed July 22, 1947 F. .J. PEACOCK AMUSEMENT MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheec 1 F. J. PEAcocK AMUSEMENT MACHINE Dec. 19, 1950 Filed July 22,1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Zane Dec. 19, 1950 J, P c c 2,534,730

AMUSEMENT MACHINE Filed July 22, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 F IG. 3.

Dec. 19 195o Filed July 22, 1947 F. J. PEACOCK AMUSEMENT MACHINE 4Sheets-Sheet 4 Franc/J gated Patented Dec. 19, 1950 AMUSEMENT MACHINEFrancis Joseph Peacock, Olton, Birmingham, England Application July 22,1947, Serial No. 762,573 In Great Britain July 27, 1946 8 Claims.

Amongst the many different kinds of amusement machines or devices foruse at fair grounds and other public similar places of entertainment, ithas been proposed to provide a machine or device which comprises amanually-operated ejector for propelling a coin or other missile intothe mouth of a chute which is adapted to direct the missile to a movingmember, the delivery outlet from the chute being arranged verticallyabove the path of the said moving member.

In accordance with one such proposal, the moving member comprises arotatable drum which is divided into a plurality of radial compartments,the mouths of which are arranged to pass in succession vertically belowthe said chute outlet.

In practice, it is customary to divide the plurality of radialcompartments into several categories or groups, to space thecompartments in each group around the area of the drum, and to arrangethat each of the several categories or groups shall represent a,different prize-earning value when the missile projected by the ejectoris directed into one of the compartments of a category or group.

Any person (hereinafter referred to as the competitor) operating theejector would, naturally, expect the conditions to be such that it ismore difficult to direct a missile into a compartment included in aprize-earning category or group, than into a non-prize-earningcompartment, and that the higher the prize-earning capacity of anycompartment, the more difiicult it is to direct a missile into thatcompartment.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a machineor device of the kind referred to above, wherein the possibility of thecompetitor directing a missile into a prize-earning compartment isreduced automatically as a compartment of any of the prize-earningcategories passes below the chute.

Another object of the invention is to reduce automatically, and inproportion to the value of the prize to be Won, the possibility of thecompetitor directing a missile into a compartment included in aprize-earning capacity or group.

A further object of the invention is to provide simple and efficientmeans or mechanism for automatically reducing the possibility of a coinbeing directed into a prize-earning compartment, and still anotherobject is to provide simple and efiicient means or mechanism whereby thesaid reduction is proportional to the prize-earning capacity of thecompartment passing below the chute.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from thespecific embodiments of the invention illustrated diagrammatically inthe accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front perspectiveview of an amusement machine or device of the kind hereinbefore referredto.

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the device shown in Figure 1 andillustrating one convenient form of carrying out the present invention.

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of a part of the device, showing thechute control means in operation.

Figure 4 is a rear view, similar to Figure 2, of a modified oralternative and simpler form of carrying out the invention.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation along the line aa, Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a plan View of a detail of construction.

The amusement machine or device shown in Figures 1 to 4, comprises abase i which is pro vided with a front shelf 2 on the top edge of whicha manually operable ejector 3 is rigidly secured. The said ejectorincludes a platform 4 for receiving a missile, such as a coin or likedisc, and an operating handle 5 for retracting and releasing aspring-loaded hammer (not shown) adapted to project the missile alongthe platform towards the rear of the machine. The base, shelf andejector may be of any desired and suitable construction.

The rear of the machine is provided with the back-board 6 which is ofhollow construction and is formed with an opening 1 in its front faceand is provided, above the said opening, with an auxiliarymissile-receiving aperture 8 having a cowl 8 along its upper end andlateral edges for guiding missiles into and through the said auxiliaryaperture.

Within the back-board, and visible through the opening 1, is a drum 9which, in the machine illustrated, is divided into twenty-four identicalradial compartments, H), II, l2, and 13, each having itsmissile-receiving mouth opening at the periphery of the drum.

The said drum is rotatable about a spindle [4 carried at its oppositeends in a bracket 15 extending across the front of the aperture 1 andanother bracket l6 extending across and behind the back-board 6. A chuteI1 is provided within the back-board between the drum 9 and theauxiliary aperture 8, the mouth or inlet end of the said chute being ofsuch dimensions that it extends from the front to the back walls of the3 back-board and at least from side to side of the auxiliary opening 8.The chute tapers to its delivery end which is located vertically abovethe spindle i4 and preferably is of a cross-sectional area not less thanthe area of the mouth of any one of the identical compartments il3.

The rear wall of the back-board is formed with a circular aperture, l8through which the drum 9 projects and a worm wheel i9 is rigidly andconcentrically secured to the rear face of the said drum. A worm 2Ddriven by an electric motor 2 l, meshes with the said worm wheel and isadapted to drive the latter around the spindle ii, at a comparativelyslow speed.

Three concentric cam rings 22, 23, 25, are mounted upon the rear face ofthe said worm wheel, each cam being provided with a plurality of spacedcam noses 22 23 and 2 respectively, the total number of cam noses beingequal to the number of prize-earning compartments, the noses on eachring being equal to the number of compartments included in acomplementary category or group. of a specified prize-earning capacity,and the noses on each of the three rings being of different depth.

Rollers 25, 25 and 2?, are rotatably mounted upon the lower ends ofrocker arms 28, 29 and 33, respectively, all the arms being journalledintermediate their ends upon a common rod 3| carried between a pair ofbrackets 32 fixed upon the rear of the back-board, and each of the saidarms being loaded by a complementary spring 3? so that itsroller-carrying lower end is urged towards the worm wheel l9. Thus therollers 25, 25 and 21, are-held in continuous contact with the cam rings22, 23 and 24 respectively.

At. their upper ends, the rocker arms 28, 29 and 39 are coupledrespectively to obturators o1 shutters 33, 3 and 35, the said shuttersbeing arranged to slide in separate planes at right angles to thebackboard and being carried by a slotted bracket 35 fixed to the rearface of the said backboard.

In the machine or device shown in the drawings, the twenty-fourcompartments are divided into four categories or groups; thecompartments H] are of the highest prize-earning capacity and are threein number, there being three corresponding deep cam noses 22 on the'camring 22.

The compartments H are of an intermediate prize earning capacity and arefour in number, four corresponding cam noses 23 of intermediate depth,on the cam ring 23. The compartments [2 are of the lowest prize-earningcapacity and are six in number, six corresponding shallow cam noses 2 5being provided on the cam ring 2 The remaining eleven compartments 13have no prize-earning capacity and, therefore, if a missile enters anyone of these losing compartments l3, the competitor receives no prize orfails to add to his score.

As the drum 9 is rotated by the motor 2|, worm 2S and worm wheel IS],the mouths of the compartments Iii-43 are moved in succession below theoutlet end of the chute l'i. Also, as each of the cams 22 23 and 2approach and travel below theircomplementary rollers 25, 26; and 2'1,the latter are forced away from the worm-wheel, causing the rocker arms28, 29 and 30, to swing about the rod 3!, against the-action'ofthesprings 37, in the direction which; causes the shutters 33, .54 and35 to move across the throat of the said chute; as the cam nosesridefrom under the rollers the bracket arms and spring return to. theirinitial positions.

Since the cam noses 22 are of the greatest depth, the shutter 33 will bemoved to the greatest distance across the throat of the chute each timeits rocker arm is displaced by one of the three noses 22; also, sincethe cam noses 24 are of the least depth, it follows that the shutterwill be moved to the smallest distance across the throat each time it isactuated; under the control of one of the six cam noses 24.

The cam noses 22 23* and 24 are arranged around their respective camrings so that only one of the shutters can be moved to its limit acrossthe throat of the chute i? at any one time, and so that each shutter isat the limit of its throat restricting movement whilst the mouth of thecomplementary compartment is disposed wholly below the outlet from thesaid chute.

In the application of the invention shown in the drawings, thearrangement and length of the cam noses is such that each shuttercommences its throat restricting movement as the complementarycompartment mouth begins to move below the chute outlet, reaches thelimit of the said movement when half the mouth area is disposed belowthe said outlet, and commences its return, movement when half the mouthhas passed beyond the outlet.

Consequently, when a compartment [0 of the highest prize-earningcategory or group is disposed below the chute outlet, the throat of thechute is restricted to a maximum degree by the shutter 33 so that theeffective area remaining for the passage of a missile, and thepossibility of the missile entering the said compartment l0, isreducedtoa minimum; similarly, when a compartment H of the intermediateprize-earning category or group is disposed below the chute outlet, thethroat is restricted to an intermediate extent by the shutter 34, when acompartment [2 of the lowest prize-earning capacity is so disposed, thethroat is restricted to the smallest extent by the shutter 35, and whena non-prizeearning compartment I3 is located wholly below and inregister with the said outlet, there is no restriction of the throat atall.

In Figure 3, the roller 21 is shown on the crown of one of the sixcam-noses 2i so that the shutter 35 is at the limit of itsthroat-restricting movement; the roller 25 is commencing its ride up oneedge of a cam 22 so that the shutter 33 has commenced itsthroat-restricting movement, and the roller 26 is clear of the cams 23so that the shutter 34 is wholly withdrawn from the chute. The maximumthroat-restricting positions of the said shutters 33 and 34 are shown indotted lines.

When it is deemed necessary to restrict the throat of the chute i! onlywhen a compartment of the maximum prize-earning capacity is passingbelow the outlet from the chute, or when only one category or group ofprize-earning compartments is provided, the machine or device may besimplified in the manner shown in Figures 4 and 5. The machine or deviceshown in these drawings comprises only one obturator or shutter 40,which is displaceable by a rocker arm 4! loaded by a spring 42 andprovided at its lower end with a roller 43 spring urged against thebackf the worm Wheel [9. The cam-noses 44 for displacing the roller, rockerarm and shutter against spring action, are assembled direct to the saidwheel I9 instead of being formed upon a cam ring asin Figures 1 to. 3.

Instead of arranging for the shutters 3335 of Figures 1 to 3 to be movedthrough difierent distances across the throat of the chute, in themanner described above, the arrangement may be such that the shuttersare displaced through equal distances. In such circumstances as shown inFigure 6, the variation in the restriction of the chute throat accordingto the prizeearning capacity of the compartment passing below the chuteoutlet, may be brought about by providing a slot or recess in theleading edge of each shutter, the recess 50 in the shutter 33 being ofthe smallest area, the recess 5! in the shutter 34 being of anintermediate area, and the recess 52 in the shutter 35 being of thegreatest area. The recessing of the shutter edges has the advantage thatit is impossible wholly to close the throat even if, due to some fault,end adjustment or wear, a shutter is taken into abutting contact withthe front Wall of the chute.

When a competitor fires a missile from the ejector 3, the said missileis directed by the inclination of the platform 4, into and through theauxiliary aperture 8 and, if driven with sufficient speed, against afabric or like back-cloth or baflie 45 (see Figure 5) which is suspendedfrom the top of the back-board in spaced relationship to the rear wallof the latter, prevents or reduces the possibility of the missilerebounding through the said aperture, and also reduces the noise createdif a coin or other metal or hard missile is fired.

After striking the said baffle, the missile falls through the mouth ofthe chute and down the latter. Provided the throat of the chute is notrestricted b any of the shutters, the missile falls straight into acompartment of the drum 9; however, if the throat is restricted, themissile may fall and temporarily come to rest upon thethroat-restricting shutter and, therefore, its passage down the chute islikely to be delayed for sufficient time to enable a compartment of oneprize-earning capacity to pass from under the chute outlet and bereplaced by a non-prizeearning compartment, or by a prize-earningcompartment of a lower prize-earning category or group.

As and when a missile falls into a prize-earning compartment, it closesan electric circuit and causes one of the lamps 45, 41 or t8 (seeFigure 1) to be illuminated thereby giving to the competitor areadily-visible indication that a prize has been won and also, accordingto which of the three lamps is illuminated, the value of such prize.(This prize-indicating means forms no part of the present invention and,therefore, is not illustrated in detail in the accompanying drawings.)

The front face of the drum is divided into twenty-four zones of equalarea to and coincident with, the compartments (see Figure 1), each zonebeing colored to indicate its prizeearning capacity. Thus, thecompetitor is able to select the time of firing the ejector with theobject of directing a missile into a pre-selected compartment.

I have illustrated and described three alternative applications of myinvention, but it will be understood that the invention may be otherwiseapplied or practised within the scope of the following claims. Forexample, the drum 9 may be adjustable lengthwise of the spindle IA! bymounting it upon cone bearings (in the same way as a bicycle wheel ismounted upon its spindle) so that the mouths of the compartments iii-l3may be brought into register with the 6 outlet from the chute I1; thecam rings 22, 23 and 24 of Figures 2 and 3 may be adjustablecircumferentially upon the back of the worm wheel 19, or the thirteencams H -24 shown in the said Figures 2 and 3 may be mounted individuallyand, if desired, in an adjustable manner directly on the said wheelinstead of being formed upon cam rings; or again, the said cams 22* -24may be arranged in one ring only so that they are adapted to displaceonly a single shutter through varying throat-restricting distances.Again, any desired number of radial compartments may be formed in thedrum and these compartments may be divided into any desired number ofprize-earning categories or groups provided that a similar number ofgroups of cams of different depths are also provided. If desired,alternative means for restricting the effective area of the chute throatto varying degrees may be adopted in place of the slidable shutters.Obviously, if desired, two or more drums, and the auxiliary componentsrequired therefor, may be arranged side-by-side in a single machine ordevice so that several competitors may be firing missiles at the time.

The term prize-earning does not necessarily imply that the competitorshall be entitled to a prize if the projected missile enters one of thecompartments iii-l2, it includes such conditions as a certain scorebeing credited to the competitor as a result of a missile entering oneof the prize-earning compartments and a prize being awarded to thecompetitor who succeeds in reaching the highest score after firing apreselected number of missiles.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. An amusement device comprising a, drum journalled at its center abouta horizontal axis 'and divided internally thereof into a plurality ofradial compartments opening around the drum periphery, a motor forrotating the drum, a missile-receiving chute arranged above the drumextending into a throat-shaped delivery outlet the latter being disposedvertically above and adjacent the periphery of the drum, at least oneannular series of cams on one side of said drum, rollers held in contactwith said cam carrying drum and shutters actuated by said rollers forperiodically restricting said throat-shaped delivery outlet throughwhich a missile may pass towards said drum.

2. An amusement device comprising a drum journalled at its center abouta horizontal axis and divided internally thereof into a plurality ofradial compartments opening around the drum periphery, a motor forrotating the drum, a missile-receiving chute arranged above the drumextending into a throat-shaped delivery outlet the latter being disposedvertically above and adjacent the periphery of the drum, at least oneannular series of cams on one side of said drum, rollers held inresilient contact with said cam carrying drum and. shutters actuated bysaid rollers for periodically restricting said throat-shaped deliveryoutlet through which a missile may pass towards said drum.

3. An amusement device comprising a drum journalled at its center abouta horizontal axis and divided internally thereof into a plurality ofradial compartments opening around the drum periphery, said compartmentsbeing divided into a plurality of groups each of a differentprizeearning capacity, a motor for rotating the drum, amissile-receiving chute arranged above the "drum extending into a throatshaped "delivery "outlet the latter 'being disposed vertically aboveand'adjacnt the periphery of the drum, at least oneannular series ofcams on'one side of :said drum,ro1lers held in contact withsaid-camcarrying drum'and 'shutters'actuated-by said rollers for periodicallyrestrictingsaid throat-shaped delivery outlet through which a missilemay pass towards said drum, the degree'o'f restriction being dependentupon and lincreasing with the prize-earning capacity of the compartment.passing' below the said delivery outlet.

4. An amusement device comprising a drum journalled 'at its centeraboutahorizontal axis and divided internally thereof into a plurality Vof radial compartments opening around the drum periphery, the saidcompartments being divided into a plurality of groups each ofadifierentprize-earning capacity, a motor for rotating the drum, amissile-receiving chute arranged Wholly above the drum with its deliveryoutlet vertically'above and adjacent the drum periphery, at least oneannular-series of cams of varying depths on one side of'the drum,a-springloaded rocker arm associated with each of the said-series,rollers held at theone of said arms in contact with said cams so asto-be rocked by the same and shutters attached tothe-other end of'saidrocker arm actuated by saidrollersfor periodically restricting theefiective crossarea of said delivery outlet through which a-missile canpass towards the drum, the degree of restriction being dependent andincreasing with theprizeearning capacity of the compartment passingbelow the said delivery outlet.

5. An amusement device comprising a drum' journalled at its center abouta horizontal axis and divided internally'thereof into a plurality ofradial compartmentsopening around the drum periphery, thesaidvcompartmentsbeing divided into a plurality ofgroups each of a-difierentprize-earning capacity, amotor for rotating the drum, amissile-receiving chute arranged wholly above the drum extending intoathroat-shaped drum, the degree of restriction being dependent andincreasing with the prize-earning capacity of the compartment passingbelow the said delivery chute.

6. An amusement device comprising a 'drum .journalled at its centreabout a horizontal axis and divided internally thereof into a pluralityof radial compartments opening around the drum :perip'hery, a motor forrotating the drum, a missile-receiving chute arranged'above the drumextending into a throat-shaped delivery outlet the latter being disposedvertically above and adjacent the periphery of the drum, at least oneannular series of cams on one side'of the said drum, a shutterassociated with each series of cams and a rocker arm operable by saidcams for displacing the said shutter inwardly and outwardly of saidthroat shaped delivery outlet.

7. An amusement device comprising a drum journalled at its center abouta horizontal axis and divided internally thereof into aplurality'ofradial compartments opening around the drum -periphery, a motor forrotating the drum, a

missile-receiving chute arranged wholly above the drum extending into athroat-shaped delivery outlet the latter being disposed vertically aboveand adjacent the periphery of the drum, a plurality of annularand'concen'tric series of cams on oneside of said drum, a separateshutter associated with'each one of the said cam series and a rocker armoperable by a corresponding cam series for displacing "the said shutterinwardly and outwardly of said throat-shaped delivery -outlet,'thearrangement'being such that not more than'one shutter is disposed at theinward end of its stroke at any onetime.

8. 'An amusement device comprising a drum journalled at its center abouta horizontal axis and divided internally thereof into a plurality ofradial compartments-opening around the drum periphery, a motor forrotating the drum, a

missile-receiving chute arranged wholly above the drum extending into athroat-shaped outlet the latter being disposed vertically above and"adjacent the periphery of the drum, a plurality of annular andconcentric series of similar cams on one side'of said drum,'a separateshutter associated with each on'e'of the'said cam series, each ofthe'said shutters havin a recess in one edge, saidrecessineach of thesaid shutters having a different area fromthe recesses'in the othershutters'and a separate rocker arm operable by each cam series andcoupled to a shutter for displacing the same, recessed-edge foremost,inwardly and outwardly of "said throat-shaped delivery outlet, thearrangement being such that not more than one 'shutter'is disposed atthe inward-end of its stroke at'a'ny one-time.

FRANCIS J. 'PEACOCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following'referenoes are of record in the UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,369,084 Goughlin Feb. 22,19211;862,877 Andersen June 14, 1932 1,916,590 Iratsch July 4, 19332,006,955 Kolar July 2, 1935

